Automobile door hinge with hold-open means



y 1958 E.'v. KALLSTQOM ETAL 2,341,815

AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE WITH HOLD-OPEN MEANS Filed Feb. 2'7. 1956 28 I) 10 r W 0 w; 26 7 a 1 T I 1s T {x 1.9 9 25 "1': +1" 21 @22 I! {I g 2 2.2 4 {L14 4 20 I 1 14' I 14 14 Q Wil l I] I \flli HIM IlL '2 Einar VHaZZstrom Warren J. Hush 2,841,815 Patented July 8, 1958 ice AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE WITH HQLD-OPEN MEANS Einar V. Kallstrom and Warren .1. Rush, Rockford, Ill,

assignors to Atwood Vacuum Machine Company, fleckford, 111., a corporation of Illinois This invention relates to improvements in hinges for the doors of automobiles and trucks and is more particularly concerned with the provision of novel hold-open means to prevent accidental closing of the door when fully opened.

We are aware that there have been van'ous designs of hold-open devices proposed but many of these are too complicated and expensive in construction and are not practical for various reasons. It is, therefore, the principal object of our invention to provide hold-open means of simpler and less expensive construction and designed to give satisfactory performance throughout the life of the car and not require any attention.

In accordance with our invention, two spring steel brackets are mounted on one of the hinge members in spaced substantially parallel relation, and the other hinge member works between these brackets and has slidable engagement with inwardly sloping outer end portions thereof in the last half of the door opening movement so as to spread these end portions apart, thereby giving a semi-holdopen action in only that portion of the door opening movement, the door being swingable freely in the first half of its opening movement, that portion accounting for a large percentage of door operations. The outer ends of the spring steel brackets beyond the humps defined at the end of the inwardly sloping portions are formed to define jaws in which the other hinge member is received at the limit of door opening movement to provide a lockup action to hold the door open, and these jaw portions are interconnected by coiled tension springs which serve to resist spreading apart of the brackets, the combined loading of these springs added to the inherent spring action of the brackets being sufficient to insure holding the door open firmly enough to require the application of a predetermined appreciable force to close it. Those portions of the spring steel brackets on the outer side of the humps and next to the jaws slope lnwardly at a sharper angle than the portions on the other side of the humps so as to present more resistance to spreading apart of the brackets in the door closing direction than is presented in the door opening direction.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of an automobile door hinge embodying the hold-open means of our invention, showing the parts in full lines in what corresponds to the closed position of the door;

Fig. 2 is a back view of the body half of the hinge on which the spring steel brackets are mounted, as shown, and

Figs. 3 and 4- are sections taken on the lines 3-3 and 4-4, respectively, of Fig. l.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in these four views.

Referring to the drawing, wherein B designates the body of an automobile and D a door thereof, the reference numerals 5 and 6 designate the two members of an automobile door hinge, member 5 being the one attached to the body pillar by its shank portion 7 as by means of bolts 53, and member 6 being the one attached to the door pillar P by means of its shank portion that forms a continuation of the gooseneck portion 9. Pintle 10 is entered with a press fit in registering holes in a pair of spaced knuckles 11 provided on the outer end of member 5 and is received with a working fit in a bearing hole 12 provided in the knuckle 13 on the outer end of member 6 disposed between the knuckles 11. The knuckle portions 11 and 13 are offset with respect to shank 7 and gooseneck 9 so that the latter is disposed in spaced parallel relation to shank 7 when the door is closed, as seen in the dotted line position of gooseneck 9 in Fig. 1.

in accordance with our invention, a pair of spring steel brackets 14-, the spring action of which is augmented by a plurality of coiled tension springs 15, is provided for hold-open purposes, each of the brackets 14 having a right angle attaching portion 16 riveted, as indicated at 17, to the shank portion 7 of the hinge member 5, and also having holes 18 provided therein registering with holes 19 provided in the shank portion 7, so that the bolts u entered through the holes 19 for fastening the hinge member to the body pillar serve also to fasten the spring steel brackets in place on the hinge member. The gooseneck portion 9 of the other hinge member 6 works between the brackets 14 and during the first half of the door opening movement has no engagement with either of these brackets, but from that point on, namely, from approximately the line ab in Fig. 1, slidably engages the inwardly sloping outer end portions 20 of the brackets 14, thereby spreading these portions of the brackets apart to provide a semi-holdopen action during the last half of the door opening movement. Just before the door is fully opened the rounded parallel edges 21 of a hardened steel plate 22 that is riveted or otherwise suitably secured to the outer side of the gooseneck portion 9 of the hinge member 6, as indicated at 23, slide past the rounded humps 24 defined at the outer ends of the inwardly sloping portions 20, and the gooseneck portion 9 is then received between generally U-shaped jaws 25 defined on the outer end portions of the brackets 14 to provide a semi-positive lockup action and at the same time positively limit the door opening movement. The one side 26 of the generally U-shaped jaw portions 25 lies substantially parallel to the gooseneck portion 9, as illustrated in Fig. 4, to serve as stops limiting the door opening movement, but the other side 27 of the jaw portions 25 slopes sharply inwardly to present more resistance to spreading apart of the spring steel brackets 14 in the door closing direction than is presented by the less sharply sloping portions 2th on the other side of the humps 24 in the door opening direction. The tension springs 15 mentioned previously serve to augment the spring action of the brackets 14 holding the door open by engagement of the gooseneck 9 in the jaws 25, and these coiled springs have booked ends 28 engaged in holes 29 provided in the right angle bent extremities 30 of the spring steel brackets 14.

The operation of this hinge should be clear from the foregoing description. In the first half of the door open ing movement, namely, up to approximately the line ab in Fig. l, hinge member 6 swings freely, its gooseneck portion 9 being spaced from steel brackets 14, as shown in Fig. 3, and it must be remembered that this range of 45 or so of door movement accounts for a large percentage of door operations, as for example, in the cramped quarters of a garage, and many times when a car is parked at a curb or near other cars in a parking lot, and whenever full opening of the door is either not possible or not advisable. While it isnt often that one finds it necessary to swing the door all the way open, when that does become necessary the hold-open spring steel brackets 14, functioning as leaf springs, come into play more and more during the last half of the door opening movement, giving a semi-holdopen action throughout a given portion of that movement, ending up with a semi-positive lockup action at the limit of door opening movement, when the edges 21 of the hardened plate 22 on gooseneck 9 pass over the humps 24 and the gooseneck 9 engages in the jaws 25 defined on the outer ends of the brackets 14. The springs 15 are, of course, stretched in the spreading apart of the spring steel brackets 14 and these auxiliary springs serve to augment the spring action of the spring steel brackets at the limit of door opening movement. There is, therefore, no likelihood of the door closing accidentally when it should remain open. The steeper inclination of the outer side 27 of the humped portions 24 insures there being appreciably more resistance to spreading apart of the spring steel brackets 14 in the door closing direction than in the door opening direction. The gooseneck 9 spreads the brackets 14 apart relatively easily by sliding on the slopes 20 in the door opening movement, but closing of the door requires the application of greater pressure on the slopes 27, due to the angularity thereof, as appears in Fig. 4, and for that reason the hardened wear plate 22 is provided to prevent excessive wear.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of our invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

We claim:

1. In a hinge, the combination of two hinge members pivotally connected together for opening and closing movement relative to one another, two spaced leaf springs fixed at one end with respect to one of said hinge members and having the other of said hinge members movable therebetween and arranged to have slidable engagement at its opposed longitudinal edges on the inner faces thereof, said leaf springs being arranged to be thereby deflected relative to their fixed ends and spread apart against their inherent resistance to deflection, said springs having inwardly projecting cam-shaped portions in inwardly spaced relation to the free ends thereof over member slide in the movement of said member to fully opened position, said projections serving to hold said hinge member in fully opened position, and said leaf springs having inwardly projecting stop shoulders defined at their free ends in outwardly spaced relation to said cam-shaped projections for engagement by said last mentioned hinge member in fully opened position, and tension spring means in outwardly spaced relation to said shoulders interconnecting the free end portions of said leaf springs to resist the spreading apart thereof.

2. In a hinge, the combination of two hinge members pivotally connected together for opening and closing movement relative to one another, two spaced leaf springs fixed at one end with respect to one of said hinge members and having the other of said hinge members movable therebetween and arranged to have slidable engagement at its opposed longitudinal edges on the inner faces thereof, said leaf springs being arranged to be thereby deflected relative to their fixed ends and spread apart against their inherent resistance to deflection, said springs having inwardly projecting cam-shaped portions in inwardly spaced relation to the free ends thereof over which the longitudinal edges of the last mentioned hinge member slide in the movement of said member to fully opened position, said projections serving to hold said hinge member in fully opened position, said projections being generally V-shaped and having an appreciably greater angle of inclination on the outer side than on the inner side, whereby to give increased resistance to the closing of the hinge when fully opened, and said leaf springs having inwardly projecting stop shoulders defined at their free ends in outwardly spaced relation to said cam-shaped projections for engagement by said last mentioned hinge member in fully opened position, and tension spring means in outwardly spaced relation to said shoulders interconnecting the free end portions of said leaf springs to resist the spreading apart thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,924,806 Saunders Aug. 29, 1933 2,342,531 Dean Feb. 22, 1944 2,712,149 Harms July 5, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 163,795 Australia June 24, 1954 

